{"id":613114,"date":"2026-04-18T20:56:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T20:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/613114\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T20:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T20:56:11","slug":"montreals-resto-vego-in-quartier-latin-set-to-close-its-doors-permanently-in-july","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/613114\/","title":{"rendered":"Montreal\u2019s Resto V\u00e9go in Quartier Latin set to close its doors permanently in July"},"content":{"rendered":"

For nearly half a century, Resto V\u00e9go has been a go-to for Montrealers looking for iconic vegetarian cuisine \u2013 but now this longtime St-Denis staple is getting ready to serve its final plates, with the owners announcing they\u2019ll officially be closing their doors on July 12th.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been losing money for three years now. At some point, you have to make tough decisions because we know we have a large community, and we\u2019ve been in the neighborhood for a long time, too. So it\u2019s really hard on everyone,\u201d said Guylaine Duchesne, the owner of Resto V\u00e9go.<\/p>\n

After surviving the pandemic and this year\u2019s brutally long winter that brought a decrease in clientele, Duchesne says the costs to operate the restaurant have begun to take their toll, and it\u2019s simply no longer feasible financially for them to remain open.<\/p>\n

\"\"A Resto V\u00e9go employee serving a coffee to a client at the takeout counter located on the first floor of the restaurant on Friday Apr. 17, 2026. (Corinne Boyer, CityNews<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s different since COVID. It\u2019s sure that it\u2019s not the same and there\u2019s inflation on the food, you know, it\u2019s the same for restaurant owners. They pay for food at a much higher cost. So they have to deal with that. I would have to say right now they have to manage really well, you know, considering the food prices, salaries, rent, everything is going up,\u201d said Dominique Tremblay, the director of public and government affairs with the Association Restauration Qu\u00e9bec.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very expensive in St-Denis, they charge $50 per square foot in rent. That gives you an idea. Here, it costs $30,000 a month, not counting electricity \u2013 which is $6,500 a month \u2013 and gas is at $2,000 a month, plus insurance\u2026 So, when you look at the bottom line, just per month, you have to sell a lot,\u201d said Duchesne.<\/p>\n

According to Dominique Tremblay of the Quebec Restaurant Association, table\u2011service restaurants typically earn profit margins of just 3 to 4 per cent, rising to about 5 per cent for counter\u2011service and drive\u2011through operations, meaning owners need high sales or to increase prices to break even.<\/p>\n

But Duchesne says she\u2019s against increasing prices again.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s only so much a customer can afford at any given time. You can\u2019t ask people for more. Everyone\u2019s going through the same thing. Groceries cost more. Gas costs more. So, you can raise your prices, but you\u2019ll lose customers too,\u201d said Duchesne.<\/p>\n

\"\"Clients looking at the many vegetarian dish options offered at Resto V\u00e9go\u2019s buffet located on the second floor of the restaurant. (Corinne Boyer, CityNews)<\/p>\n

CityNews spoke to some Montrealers who were sad to hear the news of the upcoming closure.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been there a few times and wanted to go there more often, but I can\u2019t, that\u2019s very disappointing!\u201d said one Montrealer.<\/p>\n

Another saying, \u201cI can\u2019t imagine having a restaurant right now, it must be really hard!\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile others replied they sadly aren\u2019t surprised to hear of yet another restaurant closing, as they themselves have had to readjust their spending habits due to the high cost of living.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t eating out that much beforehand, but now I certainly do it not really at all, and I\u2019ve been using the free lunch program at Concordia a lot more than I used to in the past,\u201d explained another Montrealer about how she\u2019s been able to save money by avoiding restaurants altogether.<\/p>\n

At least Duchesne says their two other locations at the Biodome and Planetarium will remain open, adding that they\u2019ve still got a few months left before the doors close forever at the St-Denis location.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCome see us. We\u2019ll be here until July 12th. We\u2019d really love to see you. You\u2019ll find your V\u00e9go just as it was before,\u201d said Duchesne.<\/p>\n

\"\"Resto V\u00e9go owner, Guylaine Duchesne, thanking longtime clients and patrons for their overwhelming support and kind words in a Facebook post on her restaurant\u2019s profile on Friday Apr. 17, 2026, a few days after announcing they\u2019d be closing their doors later this summer. (Credit: Resto V\u00e9go, Facebook)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For nearly half a century, Resto V\u00e9go has been a go-to for Montrealers looking for iconic vegetarian cuisine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":613115,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,2338],"class_list":["post-613114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-montreal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}